Big time.
Over the howl of the wind, he heard his cell phone. Slipping on the ice-slickened asphalt, he hurried to his Blazer and jumped into the driver’s seat. He managed to pick up the phone as he closed the door with his other hand.
“Carter,” he said into the handset.
“It’s Turnquist.” The bodyguard’s voice was barely audible.
Carter’s muscles clenched.
“We’ve got a problem here at the Hughes place. Everyone’s safe now, but security’s been breached.”
Damn. “How?” Carter demanded.
“I think the guy was in here. Don’t know when. Probably sometime tonight.”
“What? While you were there?”
“I don’t know for sure, but yeah, I think so.”
“Son of a bitch!” Carter wanted to reach through the wires and strangle the bodyguard. “Jenna’s okay?”
“Yeah. They all are.”
“Both girls.”
“Yes!” Turnquist snapped. “But I need some help. We’re holed up in the den, and I don’t want to leave Jenna or the girls in the house alone, but I need to search the place.”
“Absolutely do not leave them alone!” Carter ordered, suddenly frantic. Why hadn’t he followed Wes until he was home? But there was no way Wes could have gotten there in the past half-hour. What about earlier, when you thought he was at the Lucky Seven?
Carter stepped on the gas and pulled a quick one-eighty on the bridge. “Put Jenna on.”
“She’s all right.”
“Put her on!” He gunned the engine and his tires spun.
“Hello?” Her voice was steady and touched him in a way he didn’t think possible. The Blazer straightened.
“Are you all right?”
“All right? What do you think?” she said, and despite the angry tenor in her voice, there was more—an underlying current of panic.
“Stay with Turnquist.” He drove off the bridge, his wipers fighting the ice accumulating on his windshield.
“Don’t worry.”
Something deep inside of him cracked. “I do.”
There was a second’
s hesitation, then she said, “Carter?”
“Yeah?”
“Get the hell over here.”
“Hang in there, Jenna.” His voice felt suddenly rough. “I’m on my way.”
CHAPTER 39